For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 11, 2002
Fact Sheet: Reducing the Threat of Catastrophic Wildfires and Improving Forest Health
Today's Action
The Bush Administration today announced a series of new
administrative steps to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires and
improve the health of our nation's forests. President Bush today met
with Interior Secretary Norton, Agriculture Secretary Veneman and
Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Connaughton and directed them
to take several important steps to implement the President's Healthy
Forests Initiative.
These actions will reduce unnecessary red tape and needless delays
that have too often delayed efforts to reduce the threat devastating
wildfires and insect infestations that damage both public and private
lands. The new procedures will ensure that needed environmental reviews
and public review processes are conducted in the most efficient and
effective way possible.
Background on Today's Action
In order to allow vital forest health projects to move forward
before the 2003 fire season, the Bush Administration is taking
steps now to preserve forest health and reduce the threat of
devastating fires. Specifically, the Administration will propose to:
1. Facilitate Timely Reviews of Forest Health Restoration and
Rehabilitation Projects. The Departments of Agriculture and Interior
are proposing a new procedure that will enable priority forest thinning
(fuels treatment) and forest restoration (reseeding and planting)
projects to proceed quickly. Fuels treatment projects must be
identified by federal agencies working in collaboration with state,
local and tribal governments and interested persons and will not be
conducted in wilderness areas or include timber sales that are not
primarily designed to reduce hazardous fuels buildup. The fuels
treatment projects and forest restoration projects will not include the
use of herbicides or pesticides or the construction of new permanent
roads or other infrastructure. The procedures will not be used for
activities that would have an adverse effect on threatened and
endangered species or their critical habitats, inventoried roadless
areas, wetlands, and archeological or historical sites. The projects
will restore forest and rangeland ecosystems, preventing catastrophic
wildfires and benefiting many species and their habitat.
2. Amend
Rules for Project Appeals to Hasten Process of Reviewing Vital Forest
Health Projects. The Departments of Agriculture and Interior will
propose steps to promote early and more meaningful public participation
and more timely decision making on forest health project appeals.
3. Improve Endangered Species Act Process to Expedite Decisions. The
Departments of Interior and Commerce will improve the process for
reviewing fuels treatment projects under the Endangered Species Act.
This will facilitate the timely completion of fuels treatment projects
while providing needed protection for wildlife and restoring habitat.
4. Establish Improved Process for Environmental Assessments. CEQ
will provide guidance for the Departments of Interior and Agriculture
to develop an improved and more focused process for reviewing forest
health projects. The agencies will review at least 10 initial projects
to demonstrate the effectiveness of these new procedures.
The 2002 fire season was one of the worst in modern history. More
than 7.1 million acres have burned this year -- more than twice the
annual 10-year average. These fires caused the death of 21
firefighters, drove tens of thousands of people from their homes, and
destroyed more than 2,000 buildings. These fires also destroyed
hundreds of millions of trees, devastated habitat, and severely damaged
forest soils and watersheds for decades to come.
America's public lands have undergone radical changes during the
last century due to the suppression of fires and a lack of active
forest and rangeland management. Our forests and rangelands have
become unnaturally dense, and these unhealthy forests are vulnerable to
unnaturally severe wildfires. Currently, 190 million acres of public
land and surrounding communities are at increased risk of extreme
fires.
In May, the federal government reached agreement with 17 Western
and Southern governors, tribal leaders, and local officials on a
comprehensive 10-year strategy and implementation plan to reduce the
threat of catastrophic fires and promote healthy forests. This strategy
calls for active forest management and timely decision making through
thinning and prescribed burns, to reduce the unnatural buildup of
fuels.
Current firefighting efforts are often successful, but land
managers must do more to reduce the threat of catastrophic fires.
Despite record levels of federal support for firefighting, efforts to
tackle the root cause of these fires through active forest management
are too often hindered by unnecessary procedural delays and
litigation.
Forest Service officials estimate that planning and assessment
consume 40 percent of their time at the national forest level, costing
more than $250 million per year. Although much of this work is
important, officials estimate that improving administrative procedures
will allow agencies to redirect millions of dollars a year from
unnecessary planning to actual forest health restoration work that will
improve ecosystems and protect local communities from catastrophic
wildfires.
Federal land management procedures are so complex that they
prevent timely action to address ecological crises on public
lands. For example, a severe winter storm in 1995 knocked down trees on
nearly 35,000 acres of forest land in the Six Rivers National Forest in
California, leaving the forest at risk of catastrophic wildfires. Land
managers spent three years wrestling with the analytical and procedural
requirements needed to remove dead and dying trees and restore the
area. Only 1,600 acres were treated due to the complexity of the
paperwork requirements. In September 1999, catastrophic wildfires
burned through the 35,000 storm-damaged acres as well as 90,000 acres
of adjacent forest. It cost $70 million to contain these fires. After
the fire, the Forest Service was required to start its analysis again,
since post-fire land conditions had changed. Seven years after the
storm, the project remains tied up in procedural appeals, and the
hazardous ecological conditions remain unaddressed.
Today's action is an important step forward. The Administration
will continue to work with Congress, state, local and tribal
officials and the public on additional common-sense efforts to protect
people and restore forest health.
For more information on the President's initiatives, please visit
www.whitehouse.gov